Noticed the paint bubbling up and even chipped off in a few areas on my hood; leading edge. Looks like corrosion underneath. Is this something that is usually covered by the factory warrantee? It’s a 2016 Black Explorer XLT. The hood appears to be aluminum as there is no magnetic attraction; the corrosion is the white powdery stuff you would expect from aluminum.

Thanks!

 

I had the same problem with my '14 Sport. During the time I owned it, the dealer's attitude was that it was normal wear and tear (B.S.). It wasn't an uncommon situation. Lots of people had similar problems. But when I traded it I was afraid that the crappy looking hood would hurt trade-in value. The dealer didn't care. Told me they would just get the hood repainted. Apparently it was so common that they didn't even take it into consideration on the trade.

As for whether your dealer will repair it under warranty - some will, most won't. Apparently any rock chip on the hood that makes it thru the primer coat will start the corrosion process. Its even worse if you live in an area where they salt the roads or live near the ocean. I had both situations.

 

 

I understand. I wasn't too happy when my Explorer hood started bubbling when the truck was 10 months old. Don't know about your Fusion but I'm pretty sure your F100 didn't have an aluminum hood with steel stiffening ribs attached to the underside. This is related to the aluminum construction and the switch to a water based paint which just doesn't seem to have the same film strength as the old solvent based paint.. Expedition owners had similar problems with tailgates. Ford seems to have figured it out finally. My '17 F150 is doing fine so far. No corrosion but the paint still seems to chip too easily.

 

 

 

 

 

This is an ongoing problem with Mustangs, Explorers, and Expeditions (prior to the 2018 redesign of the Expedition). You can see in Consumer Reports ratings on these models that after a couple years, the paint is rated as having "much worse than average" problems.

There is a TSB on how to prepare and repaint the hood and/or tailgates where the metal has to be ground down to bare metal, not contaminated with any iron particles (which is the source of the problem), prepped with a special primer.

If you are under 3 years and 36k miles you have a better chance of some kind of settlement. Ford did change their rust warranty to include aluminum "corrosion" in 2015, presumably because of the aluminum body on the F150, and it does not require holes in the aluminum to be considered a legit problem Point to this language in the rust warranty, go to multiple dealers, and escalate if you have the patience.

I had considered an Expedition and this problem is one of the reasons I crossed it off my list. The problem has existed since 2003 and it is pitiful that Ford cannot do better. Many brands of cars (including other Ford models) have aluminum hoods and tailgates and do not have this problem. They apparently let paint companies set up the spray booths in their factories for these vehicles and in addition to iron contamination, do not spray the paint with adequate thickness.

I'm a major Ford fan but this is corporate incompetence at work and Ford does seem to understand the value of keeping customers happy if they want them to continue being Ford customers.

 

Apparently this sort of problem is not limited to Ford and I do believe it has a lot to do with the current water based paint technology. I was talking to my brother in law yesterday. He leased a new Chevy Silverado about two months ago (can you believe, a Chevy!) and just noticed the paint bubbling the size of a quarter on the rear quarter panel. Since he didn't want the dealer claiming that he damaged it when the lease is up - three years from now, he brought it back to the dealer. They immediately gave him a loner Equinox, took the truck and said they'd send it out to a body shop. He says they didn't seem surprised.

I've been buying new trucks for a long time and can remember only one time that a manufacturer had widespread paint problems - Dodge had some serious clear coat problems on their trucks in the 80's. It used to peel off in sheets.

 

I had a silver 1978 F100 pickup, bought it new as my first brand new vehicle, and the paint came off in sheets when it was 6-8 years old. Quarter car wash wand started washing off swaths of paint....disgusting.

The Explorer, Mustang, and Expedition bubbling hood and tailgate problems are due to iron particle contamination in the aluminum during the build process and there is a TSB on how to properly fix them before a repaint. But Ford has not implemented this fix on the actual assembly line. Many other manufacturers build vehicles with aluminum panels and do not have this problem. This includes other Ford products that do not have problems.

This is a ridiculous problem for Ford to have on such a continued basis and they have and will lose customers over it. I have had my own issues with GM products and won't buy GM again unless I have reason to have a very high confidence level in the product I am considering.